It isn't Israel saying that Iran shouldn't exist. While your argument is seemingly logical, it lacks common sense. I'd like to see what Germany's (or any other nation) actions/reactions if it was effectively surrounded by countries which didn't think there should be a Germany.

Don't me wrong, I realize Israel's hands are not clean. Unfortunately the situation isn't simple. And while Israel has done things I don't approval of, overall I'll take their position over Iran's without much hedging.

Yeah I read about that Sinai thing... there is a lot to write and talk about this but generally speaking, I have not a real opinion on this yet. To me, Israel and Iran are 2 identical evils. Both radical militarized regimes. Both threaten and sponsor state killings of their enemies citizens.

To me, if you sanction Iran, you have to sanction Israel too. Because the one talking publicly about attacking someone is Israel. I am sure Iran would love the attack though, because Israel will find that it has no allies and Iran can play the "oh we poor innocents" role after it.

I still to this day do not understand what makes Iran a threat to the USA or Europe.. because last time I checked, Iran doesn't give a damn about either. They give a damn about Israel because they attacked Iran before, without provocation and illegally .. but then, when does Israel ever follow international law.

Sanctions exist because of several reasons, usually because of a belligerent party but that's the short of it. The war on drugs? Yeah I agree, a lot of my friends up here in Canada are LEO's(street side) and would agree with you too. But wars on terror? Different story, especially because terrorism exists as people use it to inflict harm for ideological goals and harm civilians.

Mexico isn't a direct threat. Though the drug cartels are, the government isn't a threat. Though people inside the government that are corrupt are. The ISI(Pakistan) is a threat, and every security agency knows it, the problem being no one has the balls to give them the slap needed. And the last time India was going to, the US intervened. That will hit the boiling point sometime in the next 5-10 years, especially as Pakistan becomes more extremist.

You don't understand what makes Iran a threat to the USA or Europe? Well Iran has and continues to threaten international shipping lanes, they fund terrorist organizations which have international reach, and exist in western countries. Those terrorist groups avowed goals are to destroy the west. The US in particular, followed by Canada then Europe. They do have missiles which can reach parts of Europe.

As for Israel? Remember those terrorist groups that are funded by Iran, yeah those. That isn't without provocation. That's Iran funding a war by proxy, which is also illegal. Same with Syira. And remember international law only exists if you agree to it. The US, Canada and hell even Europe only agrees to something when they feel like it. And why? Because you've got countries like Russia, China and a whole block of extremist ones who would love nothing more than to use those laws which were at one time good, for something else.

It's kinda like Egypt right now, did you know they just started militarizing the Sinai in violation of the peace treaty after the 6-day war? That's a serious enough breach that Israel has the full right to go right back to war defensively per the terms of agreement. Instead they're trying to get the UN to get Egypt to remove any and all military units, and get peace keepers in there. So far the UN is silent on the issue. That's kinda where international law gets you.

--"For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong." --H.L. Mencken

Fair enough, you have a good point, if you see it like that, then India is stable and Pakistan and Iran is not, but Pakistan is creating instability in India and vice versa (both nations hate each other to the death) . But in the end, it's always 2 sides to a conflict. And just because our western media spins every story into a certain spin doesn't mean any of that is true, and neither does it mean everything is a lie.

Can we really say that we truly see the situation in our media and news as it is? Or are speeches by Iran mistranslated and misunderstood, misquoted and the balancing voices to them censored? I just think we are too easily persuaded to "hate Iran" because as far as History goes for now, Iran has not attacked anyone.... and if Israel bombs Iran, do you think any nation would take that and not respond? Would you not respond if Mexico flies bombing runs on your nuclear plants?

Imo the USA is creating the instability it is trying to "sanction" and this is nowhere truer than at the Mexico border, where the USA is directly to blame for the situation, both at the border and in Mexico itself. War on drugs is the biggest fucking failure in history of fake wars. Just like the war on terror. Both wars do not fight anything, they cause what they are supposed to fight!

My point was merely, that this is a double standard. If Iran is a threat, how is Mexico and it's drug cartels any LESS of a threat? How is the Pakistani secret service not a threat on par with any other terror organisation? (they directly fund Taliban resistance in Afghanistan and allow massive areas to be controlled by Taliban).

I still to this day do not understand what makes Iran a threat to the USA or Europe.. because last time I checked, Iran doesn't give a damn about either. They give a damn about Israel because they attacked Iran before, without provocation and illegally .. but then, when does Israel ever follow international law.

eRe4s3r wrote on Aug 26, 2012, 10:19:If we sanction Iran for THAT danger why are India and Pakistan not sanctioned then? Pakistan is WAY more unstable than Iran.

... not reading a whole lot of geo political news are you? Otherwise you'd know that India is about as unstable at the borders as Pakistan, you just never hear of it in mainstream media. Or maybe you forgot the Mumbai attacks in 2008 already? Or you think they came out of thin air by magical pixel fairies of doom and huge areas of massive instability at the borders, with, you guessed it, Pakistan?

While pakistan is funding terrorists, and terrorists against india. Iran is directly funding at least, if not more than 5 different terrorist groups. And belligerently threatening half of the middle east, and has been for nearly 20 years. Heck, most recently, they threatened to bomb Saudi Arabia off the map.

Mumbai doesn't make India unstable. Not anymore than 9/11 makes the US unstable, or Air India makes Canada unstable. What makes a place unstable are the neighbors that you have, and what they do. For example, in the US what's unstable is the southern border with Mexico. Where it's basically a free-flow zone, and border agents are shooting at people with bean bags, while they're getting shot at with automatic weapons.

--"For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong." --H.L. Mencken

You are not reading a whole lot of geo political news are you? Otherwise you'd know that India is about as unstable at the borders as Pakistan, you just never hear of it in mainstream media. Or maybe you forgot the Mumbai attacks in 2008 already? Or you think they came out of thin air by magical pixel fairies of doom and huge areas of massive instability at the borders, with, you guessed it, Pakistan?

eRe4s3r wrote on Aug 26, 2012, 07:44:I had this idea that anyone stealing any idea should pay me money because I PATENTED ALL STOLEN IDEAS.. and that is what Apple has done. Apple has 0 innovative patents, its 100% bullshit, that is not just common sense but god damn rectangle tablets. They patented rectangle tablets.. that's not a idea, that is a fucking usability thing. How would you hold anything NOT rectangle.

Don't say that to the gadget and device intelligentsia, they will call you an "iHater" and go tell you to play with your android.

I've always seen Apple for what it is; a company unable to come up with any fresh new ideas and instead does something that someone else did but didn't have the money to market it in such a way that less knowledgeable people think it's a breakthrough.

Or they come up with something gimmicky that makes hipsters/old folks/mentally deficient people think it's essential to their life. Nintendo is good for that as well.

Apple diehards are the one group I truly look down on. They know nothing about their tech, can't build a PC, and coast by on knowledge gleamed from their local genius bar.

I have no doubt Israel would use their nukes if they got backed into a corner and they saw no way out of it. However, short of that which is unlikely to happen, yeah -- they won't use them.

And yeah, Iran won't launch a nuke and beat their chest saying, "We did that." That isn't the problem. The problem is them giving one away to idiots who will use it. Now granted, they are nowhere close to having suitcase nuke capability, but we don't want them getting anywhere close.

I had this idea that anyone stealing any idea should pay me money because I PATENTED ALL STOLEN IDEAS.. and that is what Apple has done. Apple has 0 innovative patents, its 100% bullshit, that is not just common sense but god damn rectangle tablets. They patented rectangle tablets.. that's not a idea, that is a fucking usability thing. How would you hold anything NOT rectangle.

Exactly, you'd think the sanctions would not sanction cultural conversion goods... but you can't beat intelligence into the broken american government apparatus. Because where there is nothing there can never be anything. It's pure political bullshit, Iran would never use nukes even if it had them, just like Israel will never use nukes.

All these sanctions do is drive more people into hating the west.. so awesome job there, Mr Obama

In a Saturday post on Google+, Gutierrez describes sitting in a Starbucks, and overhearing four separate groups of people make the same conclusion about the Apple-Samsung verdict: that the two companies are effectively one and the same.

“They don’t know the details, they don’t really care, what they know is Apple is saying that Samsung is the same as Apple,” he writes. “And with one simple Google Search, you get prices that are basically half for what seems to be the same products.”

Two of the four groups that Gutierrez encountered asked him about his Samsung QX410 laptop and Galaxy phone. One husband-and-wife duo expressed shock at the former’s comparatively cheap retail price tag of $700.

The couple even considered returning their iPad after looking up Samsung’s tablet online, according to the post.

“‘Samsung’s iPad is the same as Apple’s iPad, and I paid how much for the Apple one? Honey, I told you they were a rip-off,’” the husband said.

Another man said the verdict made him “‘think twice’” about the amount he paid for his MacBook.

Flatline wrote on Aug 25, 2012, 23:30:Google's lawsuits could shut down Apple too. Leaving the industry in a weird no-man's land where nobody can produce smartphones or tablets without permission from Apple, and Google not allowing Apple to make iphones & tablets.

Ironically, this could be an ideal situation. It might actually force a revision of the patent system into something saner.

Mr. Tact wrote on Aug 25, 2012, 17:13:Anyone paying close enough attention to know if Apple's patent suit is anywhere close to having merit? Or is it just normal stupid patent law that would have been thrown out before the trial started if common sense prevailed?

From what I know of patent law, most (if not all) of the patents at the core of the lawsuit should have been invalidated on the basis of prior art (then again, Judge Koh did all she could to bar evidence of this from the trial), obviousness, or triviality.

However, there's a reason why Apple filed the case where they did - Lucy Koh has a long-standing track record of delivering pro-Apple verdicts in lawsuits. I just hope Samsung, on appeal, requests the case be heard before Richard Posner in Chicago, who is likely to throw the case out and invalidate the patents in question.

As it currently stands, so long as the patents are upheld as valid, pretty much no company can make a smartphone or tablet without getting explicit permission from Apple. Scary stuff.

And with Google buying Motorola patents, they just opened up with a whole metric assload of lawsuits against Apple for patent asshattery, including charging on average twice the industry standard for patent access, and demanding to spend less than half when licensing patents, and then just going it alone.

Google's lawsuits could shut down Apple too. Leaving the industry in a weird no-man's land where nobody can produce smartphones or tablets without permission from Apple, and Google not allowing Apple to make iphones & tablets.

Dades wrote on Aug 25, 2012, 23:03:You can look at most of the court documents online, I was checking out Apples declaration of patent violations earlier. It contained gems like "black and rectangular".

Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke called, they want their PAAD back.

--"For every human problem, there is a neat, simple solution; and it is always wrong." --H.L. Mencken

Mr. Tact wrote on Aug 25, 2012, 17:13:Anyone paying close enough attention to know if Apple's patent suit is anywhere close to having merit? Or is it just normal stupid patent law that would have been thrown out before the trial started if common sense prevailed?

You can look at most of the court documents online, I was checking out Apples declaration of patent violations earlier. It contained gems like "black and rectangular".

Samsung (and LG) certainly aren't totally innocent, I remember Whirlpool caught them stealing trade secrets and violating patents in their appliance lines a few years ago. This is just ridiculous though, Apple is trying to litigate away any competition. Even a drastically different design would still violate their incredibly vague patent portfolio.

I'd be freakin' pissed if I worked on something for 5 years using my own hard-earned money and all that time, only for someone else (a much bigger company) to come along and blatantly rip off my design and start selling it in just a few months! I'm glad Samsung lost. This kind of copying stalls technology because it does not encourage innovation. Apple and Samsung aside, this shouldn't happen to anyone! I hope the injunction goes through! No one should be able to sell a flippin' copy of my idea!! Think about if it was your idea! You'd be pissed too.

Uh no, read what the patents consist of. You are totally offbase here.